Although I try to stay informed about current events, and I study advances in music technology, in many respects I’m quite old-fashioned. For instance, I’m generally opposed to letting machines make decisions for me. Recently, whenever I begin composing an email, a message appears saying: “Press / for Help me write”. I’ve never pursued this option, because I prefer to express myself in a natural, human way, even if my message might be somewhat muddled. I felt eerily disturbed recently when, during a group email with members of Michael Hahn Band, an AI message appeared in the email, summarizing what each band member wrote. Who authorized this AI surveillance of our communication? Creepy!
Many people nowadays readily accept letting machines make decisions for them, particularly concerning what music they listen to on the internet. They might request a particular song, artist or genre to start, but then they typically let a machine-generated playlist dictate what they hear. This passive attitude seems incomprehensible to a dinosaur like me. I remember when the type of music you selected was a significant factor in your personality. Letting a machine decide strikes me as a sad surrender.
Allowing machines to pay your bills through automatic withdrawals from a bank account also troubles me. I understand the convenience of automatic payments, but I don’t like the idea of giving any person, corporation or machine the authority to subtract money from my account. Although such transactions are generally secure, the possibility of undisclosed rate hikes is concerning. Another reason that I resist automatic payments is that I actually enjoy writing checks to pay my bills. Strange as it might sound to some of you, I feel a sort of satisfied accomplishment when I write out a check, enter it in the ledger, and mail the payment. Taking care of business in this manner on a monthly basis makes me feel good. Plus the ledger provides a self-written history of my transactions that has come in handy on a few occasions.
Having said all this, even a stubborn dinosaur like me might sometimes reluctantly embrace some of the technological options. Occasionally, if I want a bit of background music and I don’t want to spend time looking through my CDs, I simply turn on a satellite music channel, maybe Americana or Blues, and let the damned machine play what it will. It’s just so darn convenient!
Michael Hahn Band varies in size from a duo to a six-piece band, depending upon the size and budget of the venue. They love to make music for any occasion. For bookings call 802-754-8889.
Upcoming Gigs:
Iron Rail in Woodsville on Thursday, February 26 from 5 to 8. This is a solo gig, just me and a guitar, so please come support me, because I’ll need all the help I can get!

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